Etiquette

Midway through "I Love You, Man," L.A. real estate agent Peter, played by Paul Rudd, wonders how quickly he can phone someone he just met. No, it's not a girl -- Peter's engaged. It's just that Peter, feeling like a "weirdo," needs a best man for his wedding party. And this buddy-less man -- who's always been a "girlfriend guy" -- is having a tough time navigating his way around the emotional land mines of the dude universe.

It was not the most eloquent subject line for a farewell e-mail to 5,000 co-workers: "So long, suckers! I'm out!" But Jason Shugars worked at Google, whose off-center corporate culture is more forgiving than that of your average buttoned-down investment bank.

So maybe it's not swine flu, but the nation seems to have come down with a serious case of impulse control disorder. Symptoms include (but are not limited to) Kanye West snatching Taylor Swift's moment at MTV's Video Music Awards; Serena Williams threatening, with expletives, to cram her ball down a lineswoman's throat at the U.S. Open; and Rep. Joe Wilson's inability to contain the urge to denigrate President Obama while the president was in the middle of addressing the nation on a topic of critical importance.

For a generation of students who share every detail of their personal lives in text messages, MySpace pages and other online postings, the college admissions chase is offering a lesson that some things are best kept private. Last December, when Brown University's early admission decisions were released online, students in one classroom at North Hollywood High's highly gifted magnet program could be heard applauding. In another, there was silence, followed by the sound of someone crying.

If you received some, ahem, unsatisfying presents during the holidays, you may be wondering whether you can regift them. Passing on gifts you've received as presents to others is OK in certain circumstances, says Regiftable.com, a site run by the nonprofit Money Management International. Don't regift homemade or one-of-a-kind items, signed books, monogrammed or free promotional items, the site advises. Only new gifts in good condition should be regifted.

So let me ask you a question about the tip jar. I had a little thing with the calzone guy this week. I go to drop a buck in the tip jar and just as I am about to drop it in, he looks the other way. And then when I am leaving, he gives me this look [like] thanks for nothing. I mean if they don't notice it, what's the point? -- George Costanza, "Seinfeld," 1996 -- It may be a hand-painted tin can, a stray paper cup or a corporate-issue plexiglass cube, but it's becoming a fixture: the tip jar.

The boys from Compton practiced all year for this field trip to Beverly Hills. They walked off their charter buses Friday and down the red carpet rolled out for them at Lawry's The Prime Rib. Through the double doors they marveled at the murals and tapestries in the massive dining room. Seven of the George Washington Carver Elementary School students instinctively headed for table 46, once reserved for no less a celebrity than Denzel Washington.

Take heed, rude Beijingers: Mind your manners, or someone else will. Apparently frustrated by its limited success in persuading Beijing residents to stop spitting, act more courteously and show a friendlier face to strangers in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, the Beijing municipal government has opted for a more top-down approach. Starting next month, Beijing shopkeepers who vent their anger, act impatiently, glance at customers disdainfully or act absent-mindedly are in violation of the law.

As he met recently with U.S. Marines at several locations across the sprawling Al Anbar province, Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis explained what he termed "wave tactics" to combat the Sunni Arab insurgency in its longtime stronghold.